The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

"Like every public official, the district attorney and his policies are subject to scrutiny,"
he said. "While we respect the views of the local academics who signed this letter, and
we welcome and appreciate all good-faith criticism of Inquirer coverage, we stand by
our depth of reporting on gun violence in Philadelphia.
"Our reporters, columnists and the editorial board have been fair, accurate, and
thorough in covering this critically important issue.”
The letter from the academics can be read in its entirety below:
Dear Stan Wischnowski, Editor, and the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Staff:
We are 24 faculty members at Philadelphia area universities and colleges, including the
University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Villanova, St. Joe’s, and Rutgers. We are
responding to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s recent reporting on shootings in the city.
Rather than honestly reporting on gun violence and its causes and solutions, this string
of stories is rife with misleading claims that risk stoking unfounded fear over criminal
justice reform.
Local journalism provides the framework through which people assess whether their
communities are safe and their justice system is fair. Reporters should state facts
accurately and provide the public with sufficient context from which to draw informed
conclusions. That often requires using evidence and data to dispel, and not exacerbate,
fear-driven narratives around crime, especially those that emerge soon after violence
like Philadelphia recently experienced.
But several recent Inquirer stories do not provide that necessary context. Instead, they
uncritically repeat criticisms of Krasner, strain to connect his policies on bail and drug
reform to a spike in shootings over a single weekend, and bury facts, in order to drive
home the false narrative of a Philadelphia that is getting less safe thanks to criminal
justice reform policies – especially those that District Attorney Larry Krasner was
elected to enact.
One story, for example, quotes U.S. Attorney William McSwain.
“There’s not the accountability that there used to be,” he says. “If there’s no
accountability, the worst types of crimes are going to go up. I think that’s self-evident.”
But McSwain opposes the very concept of prosecutors using their authority to stem the
tide of mass incarceration, and he has long criticized Krasner’s decisions to not demand
cash bail for certain charges and to seek shorter prison sentences.
The story includes a reply from Krasner calling McSwain’s assertion “fact free,”
but omits research that largely supports these reform policies and certainly doesn’t link
them to increased violence. It’s not clear why the reporter would allow McSwain to
repeat such a claim without interrogation or at least seeking to verify it with evidence.
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